Cybercriminals increasingly attack iPhones

The general opinion is that iPhones are much safer than their Android counterparts. This is due to the fact that Apple does not allow the installation of unverified applications. However, specialists at Check Point have discovered that cybercriminals have found a different way to exploit the vulnerability of smartphones designed in California. It is about scripts that dig cryptocurrencies, which have recently increased their activity on iPhones by 400%.

Mobile devices are usually the least secure element of the company’s IT infrastructure. That’s why hackers are increasingly targeting smartphones. However, it looks like cybercriminals are not very interested in our data. It turns out that it is more cost-effective to use the computing power of our cryptocurrency mining equipment. That is why more and more often we can come across a website that runs a cryptomining script in the background. This operation takes place without the user’s knowledge. It also happens that these types of scripts are also placed on hacked websites. The most popular malware of this type is Coinhive, which extracts the Monero cryptocurrency.

Cryptomining malware is increasingly attacking iPhones

Analysts from Check Point have found that Coinhive malware has increased activity on smartphones with the logo of a bitten apple. A 400% increase occurred in the second half of September and is associated with attacks on Safari browser users. The already mentioned Coinhive script, which extracts the Monero cryptocurrency, appeared in August last year. In contrast, since December is the most active malware. It is estimated that it affects the work of 19% of organizations from around the world.

Currently, we do not know what is the reason for such a large increase in the activity of cryptominers on iPhones. This partly results from the fact that Safari users can not install any free plugin that would block Coinhive malware. However, this can not be the only reason. Users of other browsers can install the appropriate extension, but not everyone uses them. A good example for this is Opera, which provides native protection against scripts extracting cryptocurrencies.